Regional councils and health boards replace vital services following NRS Healthcare collapse
Councils in England have announced new partnerships to replace community equipment services previously provided by NRS Healthcare after it went to liquidation last week.
NRS Healthcare, which was backed by private equity firm Graphite Capital and based in Leicestershire, supplied councils across the UK with equipment such as wheelchairs, hoists and medical beds, and was also responsible for maintaining and repairing items already in use.
Its collapse has prompted councils to take immediate action to safeguard service continuity.
In a joint statement Brighton and Hove, East and West Sussex County Councils and NHS Sussex Integrated Health and Care Board said new arrangements for rails, hoists and beds, and technology enabled care services had been put in place from 1 August.
A spokesperson said: “Our shared priority has been the safety and wellbeing of our residents and our teams have worked hard to minimise the impact on residents who have been receiving support from NRS Healthcare.
“We recognise how important community equipment and technology enabled care can be for people leaving hospital or maintaining their independence at home, and we are committed to ensuring that services remain as reliable as possible, especially to those people with the highest levels of need.”
Medequip has confirmed that it has agreed to provide Community Equipment Services in Kent, Dorset (including Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole), Cambridge and Peterborough, Doncaster, Blackburn with Darwen and the London boroughs of Ealing and Hillingdon. It will also provide the Technology Enabled Care Service in North Yorkshire.
A spokesperson for Ealing Council stated that it was working with the NRS and its appointed advisors, the NHS, social care teams, and other London boroughs to manage the transition. It said that it is continuing to work solely and directly with a “local authority provided service” for telecare. To reduce disruption it is “prioritising urgent and critical referrals, to safeguard hospital discharges and end-of-life care.”
In a statement, Millbrook Healthcare stated that it had been approached by several local authorities affected to step in and provide emergency support and has yet to confirm a full list.
It did however state that it had taken on as permanent employees, under TUPE, several hundred people who previously worked for NRS, and “welcomed them as valued colleagues into the Millbrook Healthcare community.”
Lincolnshire County Council has announced that community equipment and wheelchair services will now be provided by Millbrook Healthcare with telecare services taken over by Livity Life.
A spokesperson for Lincolnshire County Council commented: ‘There may be some short-term disruption during this transition, but we are working to mitigate the impact. During this period, we will be prioritising support to protect those most impacted by this change.’
West Berkshire Council has also announced that its provider of social care and community equipment has changed to Millbrook Healthcare.
As reported in THIIS recently, Herefordshire Council has moved quickly to ensure critical community equipment and technology-enabled care services continue without disruption for residents across the county by appointing two healthcare providers, Hoople and Careium UK.
